‘NFT for Good’ to benefit local artists, community
Posted on Oct 27, 2021 in Capitol Connection, Featured, Main
The state’s Digital Currency Innovation Lab (DCIL) is bringing together art and technology in a unique collaboration using NFTs or non-fungible tokens. NFTs are becoming a popular way to buy and sell digital assets like art, music, game items and videos. They are “non-fungible” in the sense they are one-of-a-kind tokens that show ownership of authentic digital creations, as opposed to cryptocurrency tokens that are “fungible” and can be exchanged for equal value, in the same denomination or another currency, such as dollars.
Hawai‘i artists to be featured in ‘NFT for Good’: (Clockwise from top left) Shar Tuiasoa, Jasper Wong, Woes, Roxanne and Matthew Ortiz (Wooden Wave) and Lucky Olelo.
The project involves Worldwide Walls Hawai‘i (formerly POW! WOW!) hosting its first NFT-based gallery on MakersPlace, a rare digital art marketplace. The “NFT for Good” initiative will feature limited digital works for sale from five Hawai‘i artists. Worldwide Walls will receive a donation of up to 10% from the proceeds and will fund a community beautification project in underserved neighborhoods. The five artists — Jasper Wong, Shar Tuiasoa, Woes, Lucky Olelo, and Wooden Wave — will also be donating to the project. The gallery is set to go live on Dec. 1, 2021 and interested collectors can sign up for updates on the Hawai‘i Technology Development Corporation (HTDC) website at https://www.htdc.org/dcil-nft-for-good/. HTDC’s Ellen Ng, who helped spearhead the project, sees it as a way to “open the door to other local artists in the digital marketplace for positive community benefit.” Wong added, “This is a fantastic opportunity to elevate promising artists in Hawai‘i and showcase their creations to a global audience.”
The DCIL is a two-year program forged through a partnership between the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs, Division of Financial Institutions and HTDC, attached to the Department of Business and Economic Development and Tourism. For more on the DCIL pilot program, go to www.htdc.org/digital-currency-innovation-lab.